Kala (Earth-616)
__TOC__ Real Name: Kala Nicknames: None Former Aliases: None Other Current Aliases: None Status Occupation: Queen of the Netherworld Legal Status: Citizen of the Netherworld, Honorary citizen of Subterranea Identity: Publicly Known; Kala's existence is not common knowledge to the general populace of Earth Marital Status: Widowed Group Affiliation: Partner of the Mole Man Base of Operations: The Netherworld and Subterranea Origin Place of Birth: The Netherworld Known Relatives: Baxu (Husband; Deceased) First Appearance: Tales of Suspense #43 Origin: Origin unknown. History Before the continent of Atlantis sank about 20,000 years ago, its civilization had reached great technological heights. The priests and intellectuals of the city of Netheria in the southern part of the Atlantean continent foresaw that Atlantis would be attacked by the Deviant Empire based in Lemuria. Therefore, the people of Netheria enclosed their city in a dome of an unknown plastic like substance and excavated and fortified their city's foundations. Consequently, when Atlantis sank, Netheria remained intact, and its people survived, having discovered a means a recycling their air supply. Netheria sank more deeply over the years until it finally came to rest in a huge sub-sea cavern. The Netherians renamed their realm the Netherworld, and are now known as Netherworlders. Some years ago, inventor Anthony Stark found himself enveloped within a strange, crystal-like substance which sank into the Earth, taking him with it. The large crystal transported him to the Netherworld, whose people had been monitoring the events in the surface world for centuries with their technological devices. The Netherworlders' youthful and beautiful Queen Kala intended to use her armies and highly advanced weaponry to conquer the surface world. However, Kala had no means of transporting all of her invasion forces and weaponry to the surface. She demanded that Stark create such a means, or else she would execute him, and two other hostages, and claimed she would activate devices that would devastate the surface world with earthquakes. (It is unclear whether she actually had such devices.) Stark agreed, but actually used the laboratory facilities that Kala assigned him to create a duplicate of his Iron Man armor. Once inside the armor, Stark captured Kala and flew her to Earth's surface. There, as Stark had theorized from unknown evidence, Kala quickly aged into an elderly woman due to the difference in atmospheric conditions between Earth's surface and the Netherworld. Realizing that the Netherworlders could not live on the surface without becoming old and weak, Kala renounced her plans of conquest. Iron Man returned her to the Netherworld, where she regained her youth through unknown means. Iron Man returned Kala's other two hostages to the surface word, and Kala subsequently married her advisor and general, Baxu. After Baxu's death, Kale planned to gain control of a vast army of Subterraneans by pretending to fall in love with their ruler, the Mole Man. The Mole Man had captured his greatest rival, Tyrannus, who had his own kingdom in underground Subterranea, and brainwashed him into becoming his slave. In love with Tyrannus, Kala freed him from the Mole Man's brainwashing, and Tyrannus then captured the Mole Man, who was crushed when Kala told him how she had deceived and betrayed him. Kala planned that she and Tyrannus would rule the entire subterranean world together. Moreover, her engineers had designed huge shafts leading to the surface, which the Mole Man then had his Subterraneans build; Kala and the Mole Man intended to use the shafts to transport molten lava to surface world, thereby destroying its civilizations. Now Kala plotted to carry out that plan herself. Tyrannus turned against Kala and imprisoned her within energy rings, since he had no intention of sharing rulership of Subterranea with anyone. Tyrannus was temporarily incapacitated by an explosion, and the Mole Man and Kala regained their freedom, but Kala and the heart-broken Mole Man parted, and she returned to her Netherworld kingdom. Later, Kala and the Mole Man went to war with each other. Part of this conflict involved a battle between their forces on the Earth's surface, where Kala wore a helmet equipped with a means of preserving her youth despite her exposure to the atmosphere there. However, the helmet was accidentally broken, and Kala swiftly became aged and frail. She sought to use the underground Fountain of Youth that Tyrannus used to maintain his own youth, but was told that it had drained away. Apparently Kala had no other means to restore her youth. Distraught over the fact that she must remain withered and old, Kala appealed to Mole Man, who agreed to allow her to return to his domains. The Mole Man, however, was still in love with her, and she agreed to become his consort. Kala soon grew to love Mole Man due to this act of kindness. And for a time, Kala was treated well, but the Mole Man grew more and more distant, never including Kala in his plans of conquest and later regulating Kala to her own guarded chambers. Later, when the underground race of Deviants began a war on the other races of Subterranea, Mole Man was removed from his domains. Kala used the opportunity to escape, but made her way to the surface to ask Iron Man to aid the Mole Man in the war. Ending up in the Netherworld once more, the once again rejuvenated Kala was attacked by her own people. Kala's aides, the Subterranean superhuman team called the Outcasts, retaliated and almost caused a destructive cave-in on the city if it were not for the intervention of Iron Man. Awed by the display of power that Kala had brought back with her, the Netherworld citizens would have accepted her back, but Kala instead chose to return to the Mole Man's side, even though it meant returning to her great age. Kala was wounded in the Subterranean War when taking a blow meant for Mole Man. Moved to compassion, the Mole Man returned to his domains at the end of the war with Kala by his side. Her present whereabouts and activities and those of the Netherworlders are unknown. Characteristics Height: 5'8" Weight: 135 lbs Eyes: Blue Hair: (as young woman) Black ' ' (as aged woman) Grey-White Unusual Features: No unusual features Powers Strength Level: Kala possesses the normal human strength of a woman of her age, height, and build who engages in little regular exercise. Known Powers: No known powers. Known Abilities: *'Night Vision:' Due to her life underground, Kala can see clearly in far dimmer light than most surface human beings can. Limitations *'Exposure to Earth's Atmosphere:' For unknown reasons, exposure to the atmosphere on the Earth's surface causes Netherworlders to grow aged and weak within Moments. Miscellaneous *'Military:' As queen of the Netherworld, Kala commands the use of its highly advanced technology and weaponry and of its well-trained army. List of Appearances: * Tales of Suspense #43 - First Appearance * Iron Man Annual #12 (Flashback) * Fantastic Four #127 * Fantastic Four #128 * Marvel Treasury Edition #25 * Incredible Hulk #263 (Flashback) * Rom #28 * Avengers Annual #20 * Iron Man Annual #12 * Avengers West Coast Annual #6 * Fantastic Four Unlimited #4 Notes * Related Articles *Netherworld External Links *http://www.marveldirectory.com/individuals/k/kala.htm References * ---- Category:Characters Category:Living Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Blue Eyes Category:Grey Hair